Don Melchor wines: Comparing 23 vintages of Chilean royalty

Concha y Toro’s Cabernet Sauvignon-led Don Melchor helped to put Chilean fine wine on the map after launching in the late 1980s. Below, Michael Apstein rates 23 vintages ranging from the current-release 2015 back to the inaugural 1987.

Before there was Almaviva, Clos Apalta, Seña or Viñedo Chadwick, there was Don Melchor, standing alone and apart from every other Chilean wine.

Named after the founder of Concha y Toro, it was the country’s first ‘Super-Chilean’ wine.

Scroll down to see notes from the vertical tasting

After recently tasting 23 vintages, going back to its first, the 1987, it’s clear to me that Concha y Toro’s vision for producing a world-class wine was correct.

Don Melchor stands with the world’s best Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines, Bordeaux and Napa Valley included.

This tasting showed that Don Melchor, like all great wines, develops with bottle age, transforming itself from a primary fruit-driven wine to something more savoury, complex and layered.

Enrique Tirado, the winemaker, says that Don Melchor is basically an expression of Cabernet Sauvignon – the blend always contains more than 90% of that grape.

Since 1999, he has used a small amount of Cabernet Franc, and in the 2015 vintage, even a small dollop of Petit Verdot. He notes that adding too much Cabernet Franc distorts Cabernet Sauvignon’s signature.

All of the grapes come from a single site – the highly acclaimed gravelly, well-drained, 127ha Puente Alto vineyard in the Maipo Valley, just south of Santiago. The selection is severe. Tirado uses only 50%-70% of the fruit from that vineyard for Don Melchor. Annual production averages about 150,000 bottles.

For the tasting, Concha y Toro supplied 10 vintages. The remaining 13 came either from a friend’s cellar or from my own.

The style of Don Melchor has changed over the years, from one that emulated Napa Valley wines of the 1980s, to a more ‘international’ profile.

Tirado attributes the change to better vineyard management – dividing the land into parcels, harvested and vinified separately – to capture what he calls, the ‘distinctive expression’ of Cabernet Sauvignon from each.

Like any top-flight red Bordeaux, Don Melchor takes two decades to reach its peak. But those who prefer youthful richness can enjoy it younger because, as the late Louis-Paul Latour advised me: ‘Great wine always tastes great.’ Don Melchor fits that dictum.

How the Don Melchor wines compare: 23 vintages from inception to latest release

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Don Melchor: Comparing 23 vintages of Chilean wine royalty

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More articles from Decanter magazine’s October 2018 issue

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2015

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2014

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2012

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2010

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2007

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2006

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2005

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2003

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2002

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2001

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 2000

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1999

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1998

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1997

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1996

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1995

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1994

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1993

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1991

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1990

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1989

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1988

Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1987